I have a cat who is 20 (well her birthday is in 4 weeks). She's always been mine, she made it clear the day I met her at my mom's house when I was home between camp and college. She was 2 or 3 when she was able to come to live with me where I went to grad school. So we've been together half my life. And we've been close. I wrote my entire thesis with her on my lap. The whole time I was in grad school she was well known in the trailer park we lived in for watching for me in the window all day long.

She is incredibly aware of how I am doing. Right now she is painfully climbing up to my bed or the couch to cuddle every day, several times per day. She's not done that much in years. I woke up one morning with a stiff arm because she'd curled up in that arm sometime in the night, like she did when she could get around more easily.

When this mania started she actually was diagnosed as a "self-mutilator" because she pulled the hair and skin off her belly. That was the 3rd time she's done that. The first was when I was IP. The 2nd was when I was very sick. This time she seemed to know how bad it was before anyone else. It was very dangerous and could have killed her combined with her other issues.

I know pets are very intuitive. Just curious about whether others have support animals. My Anna has lived so long despite numerous times I've been told she'd not live long. I think she knows I need her (and that her diagnosis is wrong). My other cat kind of gets it but not like Anna. It's a strange bond that she can read me so well. She's yet another reason I hate the idea of IP; my mom will feed her but she needs attention and love so she doesn't tear her belly up again while I'm gone and I don't know if my mom has time to sit and pet the cat.